On MLK Day

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929.

Ebinger’s

[An Ebinger’s bakery, 411 86th Street, Brooklyn, New York, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

George Ebinger (1859–1935) opened a bakery in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn in 1898. By 1915, when he retired, he had three stores. By 1930, when the chain was run by his sons, there were forty. By 1950, forty-two. When the chain went into bankruptcy in 1972, there were fifty-four or sixty-seven locations in Brooklyn and Queens and on Long Island, depending on which source you consult.

It matters not that the sign says Ebinger Bakers ; a Brooklynite went to an Ebinger’s for baked goods. I remember blackout cake and crumbcake. My brother remembers pot pies. Everything was boxed in pale green boxes with brown squiggly lines, and tied with string — brown and white, I think.

The dowdy world took its baked goods seriously. Consider the list of breads in a 1963 Ebinger’s advertisement: pan twist, Pullman, raisin, plain rye, seed rye, smooth top, white mountain, whole wheat, whole wheat raisin, and unsalted white, “all in new re-closable package!”

Ebinger’s was enough a part of Brooklyn reality that it turns up in Gilbert Sorrentino’s novel of Brooklynites, Aberration of Starlight (1980):

What tradition did he keep with religious devotion?

On New Year’s Day, he visited all his surviving relatives to wish them the joy of the new year; at home, he made certain that he had on hand a supply of ladyfingers (bought at Ebinger’s Bakery) and a bottle of sherry with which to refresh any guests who dropped in to wish him and the family the joy of the new year.

See? Ebinger’s, possessive.

[Kings Courier, July 6, 1963. Click for a larger view.]

A New York Times article about the end of Ebinger’s (August 26, 1972) quotes Arthur D. Ulrich, the company’s president and George Ebinger’s grandson: “In these days quality cake has perhaps become a luxury that somehow does not fit into the housewife’s budget.” “Cake,” he says, “has been pushed into the luxury class.” But the article also notes that most of the chain’s customers “had moved from Brooklyn and Queens to Nassau and Suffolk Counties.”

In 1982 the Times reported that a Brooklyn bakery had resurrected the Ebinger name and was thriving, with the blessing of, and original recipes from, George Ebinger’s son Arthur Ebinger. But there’s no sign of that bakery now.

Some other Ebinger’s locations: 1104 Kings Highway, 1707 Kings Highway, 1310 Avenue J, 1704 Avenue M, and 1603 Avenue U. The Ebinger’s our family patronized, at 4907 13th Avenue, is barely discernible in this photograph. It’s to the right of the bank.

All Ebinger’s locations are now located in Brooklyn memory banks.

[Canarsie Courier, October 28, 1993.]

Thanks, Brian.

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October 18, 2023: An article in the Daily News, “Will the real Ebinger’s please stand up?” (September 22, 1982), casts doubt on the claim that Arthur Ebinger gave his family’s recipes to Lou Guerra, the baker who revived the Ebinger’s name. The article quotes Carolyne Ebinger Czap, Arthur’s daughter:

“What makes me sad,” said Czap, “is that people think these awful things are what my father made. I doubt seriously that Guerra ever met my father.”

Guerra says that Arthur Ebinger gave him the recipes in 1978.

“My father,” said Czap, “was in the hospital and a nursing home for two years before his death. He died in 1977.”

The article cites several sources who say that Guerra used mixes, not fresh ingredients. Ebinger’s used only fresh ingredients.

The Times never revisited its story.

Thanks again, Brian.

Related posts
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives

Dogs dig holes

“‘It is confusing’: Dictionary takes dig at City of Toronto dog sign” (Toronto Sun).

Is the sign really that confusing? Listen up, Fido, while I hip you to these holes. I know you’ll dig them.

Richard Macksey’s library

I recognized the name Richard Macksey, but I’d never seen his library: 51,000 books.

Reader, would you find this library comforting, or claustrophobic?

[Notice that the steps of the ladder — if that is indeed a ladder and not shelving — hold more books.]

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Lester Ruff, aka Stan Newman making an easier Stumper. It is indeed less rough, or more than easy, and about 31% three-letter words.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I liked seeing:

4-D, seven letters, “Metaphor for holdups.” My mind went first to criming. What does that say about me?

6-D, three letters, “Physical features?” The clue improves the answer.

11-D, eleven letters, “Sound-effects specialist.” Maybe now I’ll finally remember what the term means.

41-D, seven letters, “Many miniatures.” Oops, not HUMMELS.

48-A, six letters, “Word from Old French for ‘bread room.’” Huh. Now it seems so obvious.

49-A, four letters, “Specify multiply.” I like the clue’s playful syntax.

50-A, three letters, “In particular, in the OED.” Because dictionaries. And I find myself typing the answer often.

Two clues I’m not happy about:

18-A, three letters, “2027 Super Bowl designation.” Kinda ridiculous, though it’s difficult to imagine a good alternative. “Roman blues route”?

34-D, three letters, “Detergent brand once ‘rhymed’ with ‘glad’ in commercials.” I found one of these commercials on YouTube — from 1971. I think the time for this clue has passed. How about “Harrison’s ‘When We Was       ’”? Or ”Ab follower”? No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

And one clue whose answer could, I think, be improved while keeping the puzzle Les Ruff: 22-A, six letters, “Sources of twangy sounds.”

No spoilers; the answers (and some explanations) are in the comments.

Professor gone wild

“I’m a fucking tenured professor!” Inside Higher Ed reports on a seventy-four-year-old history professor’s first-week video for his students. The performance/protest about teaching in a pandemic is at YouTube.

If I were still teaching, I would share the guy’s exasperation. But I would never speak to my students as he does.

And speaking of exasperation: my former employer “encouraged” and “expected” students to test for COVID-19 when returning to campus this January. In contrast, the state’s R-1 school required a booster shot and on-campus test and is now distributing free N95 masks to students.

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January 20: The professor, who was suspended, is threatening to sue his school if he’s not reinstated.

Another letter from an American

I read (I think) a fair amount of news and commentary. But the historian Heather Cox Richardson reads more (and knows more). Letters from an American, her daily report on the news, always catches something I’ve missed.

The latest installment references this opinion piece by Greg Sargent, which speculates about Kevin McCarthy’s January 6 conversation with the defeated former president. It’s worth not missing.

A shopping tip

For anyone going to the grocery store: when you check out, keep your cart behind you at the start of the checkout lane and unload your groceries from the front of the cart. Your cart thus keeps the unmasked asshat behind you at a greater distance. As the cashier begins to scan your purchases, you can pull your cart forward, still keeping the hat at a greater distance.

The advantage of this tactic: no need for words. You’re just an oblivious shopper trying to get through the day.

A related post
SPA Day

“Grey sky and withered garlands”

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (1898).

The governess might be mad, but she can write well, though she sometimes shares James’s penchant for convoluted syntax. Not here though.

[It’s strange to read this narrative in light of a recent conspiracy theory about danger to children. And I think that’s all I’m going to say about that conspiracy theory.]

Ronnie Spector (1943–2022)

Singer, survivor. The New York Times has an obituary.

Here’s the song that made Brian Wilson pull his car over to the side of the road.


[“Be My Baby” (Jeff Barry–Ellie Greenwich–Phil Spector). The Ronettes: Estelle Bennett, Ronnie Bennett, and Nedra Talley. From The T.A.M.I. Show (1964).]